Thursday, 12/3/15 - A catch up day. Client files that need attention. Also, our tax planning for 2015 and ROTH conversion. And, property taxes to pay on all properties. While I was online in the middle of paying property taxes, I got a call from Hannalore, our landlady for the RV garage. She told me that she had listed the house for sale. I did not expect that. I told her that we had a first right to purchase the house in our lease of the RV garage, but it didn't seem to register with her. She seemed very confused and said that she had paperwork all over the kitchen. I asked her to have her realtor (Steve) call me as soon as possible.
Steve called about an hour later. We have met him before, in fact, he helped us find the RV garage for rent in the first place. I explained to him that we had first right to purchase, and he explained to me that he already had 2 offers coming in and had already shown the house and garage. He confirmed that nobody had been upstairs in the loft where I had papers stored, but he had shown the empty RV garage. We talked numbers, and the end of all of this is that we made an offer on the house which he wrote up for Hannalore. He called back later in the afternoon and said Hannalore was good with our offer, so I guess we bought a house today. Didn't really want to do this, but we could not move our stuff out of the garage if he sold it, and even if we were home, we would have to find another RV storage and move out Tom's project car and all the paperwork, so we felt we didn't really have any choice in the matter - we had to keep the RV garage and just got a house in the process. After all of this, I finished the property tax payments, and took a breath.
Friday, 12/4/15 - Tom and I left to do some touring today. Before that, we stopped at Staples to fax off paperwork for the ROTH conversion and offer on the house. Then, we went to Jamestown Settlement. It is a re-creation of the original Jamestown of 1607 - the first English settlement in the U.S. Actually, the very first settlement was St Augustine in Florida in 1545, but that was Spanish. Jamestown was settled by the Virginia Company of Britain, but it did not thrvive. Life was very difficult, and many died. When the capitol of Virginia was moved from Jamestown to Williamsburg in 1699, Jamestown almost died.
The re-creation was much like the Plimouth Plantation we saw in Massachusetts, except it really wasn't as authentic.
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| A monument built in 1957 - 350 years since settlement in 1607 |
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| Jamestown ships |
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| Fort James |
We then headed across the peninsula to Yorktown (about 23 miles). What a cute, quaint, village. Yorktown is mostly known for the final battle of Yorktown . The French Navy, headed by Admiral Francois DeGrasse brought 3000 men and many ships to block the Chesapeake Bay entrance, and keep the British from entering the Bay, assisting General George Washington. When the British showed up, the French fought back and drove them away. The Battle of the Chesapeake signaled the beginning of the end of the Revolution War in 1781. It prompted the signed surrender of the British under Cornwallis, and the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783.
It was lunch time, so we headed to the waterfront (on the York River) for a cafe. Had a wonderful lunch and met some very nice people there. We walked around the waterfront area, but didn't find any wonderful shopping until we came across the Yorktown Onion, a boutique with really nice stuff. Picked up a gift to take home.
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| Yorktown, a quaint village |
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| Surrender at Yorktown George Washington and Adm. Francois DeGrasse |
Saturday, 12/5/15 - More paperwork for the house offer. At 3:00, Mom arrived with Charles and Cathy. We unloaded all of Mom's stuff and got her settled in. Charles and Cathy left for their hotel, and we enjoyed dinner together and movies. I got Mom to watch The Princess Bride, one of my favorite movies, and she really enjoyed it. Tomorrow is the family gathering.
Sunday, 12/6/15 - Lazy morning. Got ready and met the family group at the Whalers Company (a very nice restaurant in Williamsburg) at 2:30. There were 15 for late lunch, and such a nice group of people. One of Dad Harris' brother was there, and Tom's cousins, aunts and uncles. We had a great lunch and a wonderful visit with all of Tom's family. I think Mom loved it too.
Monday, 12/7/15 - Tom and I set out to see the historical town of Williamsburg, they call it the Revolutionary City.
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| Fife and Drum corp |
We watched a film at the Visitor Center that explained how the historical city was saved. It turns out that the minister of the local church was worried about the deteriorating city in 1930. He knew that if he did not try to save it, it would fade away into history as so many other historical cities. He petitioned John D. Rockefeller Jr. to help save the town. He was not too enthusiastic about it in the beginning, but did commit to have drawings made. It took 5 years before he came around to funding the rebuilding the city. but he did. He committed $12 million to restore Williamsburg. In the end, it turned out to be one of his favorite philanthropic projects, and he spent over $68 million in all to save the town. Now that is what I call a happy ending. Today, you can walk all through the main street and feel like you were back in 1770's. Here are some of my pictures.
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| costumed actor in front of house |
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| Capitol Building |
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| other homes from the 1700's |
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| a Pub |
Gloria Newport Moss' ancestor was Captain John Newport of the ship that brought the Jamestown settlers.
ReplyDeleteI loved Williamsburg. We worshiped at a Sunday service at the parish churgh and in the afternoon, as we watched the Virginia Militia on the green, I answered the call and "enlisted" and marched away to go to the Revolutionary War. A few years earlier, I heard the Declaration of Independence read on July 4 at the Boston State House.
Tom is the direct descendant of Francois Isaac LeBas. He was in the French army under Rochambeau. They fought in the Battle of Yorktown, stormed, and eventually took Redoubts 9 and 10 which were essential to the victory. After the war he married a local girl and stayed in America.
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